The present invention relates to a new variety of Calibrachoa plant, which originated from the crossing of a Calibrachoa hybrid variety, botanically known as Calibrachoa sp., with ‘9LB6’ as the female parent and ‘9LB1’ as the male parent.
The female parent ‘9LB6’ (unpatented) used in the crossing to produce ‘Sunbel-labu’ is a strain of our breeding lines having light purple flowers (near R.H.S. N82B). The flower of ‘9LB6’ is smaller than that of ‘Sunbel-labu’.
The male parent ‘9LB1’ (unpatented) used in the crossing to produce ‘Sunbel-labu’ is a strain of our breeding lines, having light purple flowers (near R.H.S. N81C). The plant height of ‘9LB1’ is higher than that of ‘Sunbel-labu’.
In April 2000, crossing of ‘9LB6’ as the female parent and ‘9LB1’ as the male parent was conducted at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan. In September 2000, fifty seedlings were obtained from the crossing. These seedlings were grown in pots in glasshouses and were evaluated. One seedling was selected in view of its growth habit, flower size and color in Septemeber 2001. That seedling was propagated by cutting and a trial was carried out by flower potting and bedding from April to October 2002. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties ‘Sunbelchipi’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,355) and ‘Sunbelkubu’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,279 ) for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Calibrachoa plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. The new variety of Calibrachoa plant was named ‘Sunbel-labu’.
In the following description, the color-coding is in accordance with The Horticultural Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England (R.H.S.).